New York Consolidated Laws, Real Property Tax Law - RPT § 489-aaa. Definitions

1. “Applicant” means any person or corporation obligated to pay real property taxes on the property for which an exemption is sought, or in the case of exempt property, the record owner thereof, provided, however, that such property is not commercial property located in an area designated as excluded pursuant to section four hundred eighty-nine-ccc of this title;

2. “Board” means the industrial and commercial incentive board;

3. “Commercial” means any non-residential property used primarily for the buying, selling or otherwise providing of goods or services, provided that the use of such property has not been designated as a restricted commercial use pursuant to section four hundred eighty-nine-ccc of this title;

4. “Construction” means the building of new industrial or commercial structures on vacant or predominantly vacant land, or the modernization, rehabilitation or expansion or other improvement of an existing commercial structure where such modernization, rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement is not physically or functionally integrated with the existing structure or results in additional usable square footage fifty per centum greater than the square footage of the existing structure;

5. “Industrial” means property used primarily for the manufacturing or assembling of goods or the processing of raw materials;

6. “Predominantly vacant land” means land, including land under water, on which not more than fifteen percent of the lot area contains enclosed, permanent improvements;  in addition, such land may include existing foundations.  A fence, shed, garage, attendant's booth, paving, pier, bulkhead, lighting fixtures, and similar items, or any improvement having an assessed value of less than two thousand dollars shall not constitute an enclosed, permanent improvement;

7. “Reconstruction” means the modernization, rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement of an existing commercial or industrial structure where the total proposed project cost is in an amount equal to at least twenty percentum of the assessed value of the property at the time an application for a certificate of eligibility pursuant to this title is made, and where such modernization, rehabilitation, expansion or other improvement is physically and functionally integrated with the existing structure and does not create additional usable square footage greater than fifty per centum of the usable square footage of the existing structure except in a case where the existing structure has been substantially destroyed by fire or other casualty;

8. “Residential property” shall mean property, other than property used for hotel purposes, on which will exist upon completion of construction a building or structure containing more than one independent dwelling unit or where more than one-third of the total square footage of said structure is to be used for residential purposes;  it shall also mean, in the case of reconstruction, property on which exists or will exist upon completion of the reconstruction a building or structure where more than one-third of the total square footage is used or is to be used for dwelling purposes;

9. “Vacant land” means land, including land under water, which contains no enclosed, permanent improvement.  A fence, shed, garage, attendant's booth, paving, pier, bulkhead, lighting fixtures, and similar items, or any improvement having an assessed value of less than two thousand dollars shall not constitute an enclosed, permanent improvement;   1